ELibM Guidelines for Journals and Proceedings Volumes

The following are guidelines for mathematical journals and
proceedings volumes to be included in the Electronic Library of
Mathematics (ELibM) which is provided
as part of the European Mathematical Information Service
(EMIS). This library is a broadly
based electronic distribution and archiving repository network
for mathematics.

1. Scientific standards

An editorial board must assure that articles accepted
for publication are of good scientific quality.

Every article must be refereed and recommended for publication
by one or more experts.

The choice of articles must involve no discrimination on the
basis of politics, nationality, race, sex, or religion.

2. Editorial and typographic standards

Articles should appear in a polished form similar to that of
printed mathematical journals, to the extent this is practicable.
In particular, they should have an approximately uniform typography,
and each should have a unique identification that is suitable for
use in bibliographies of other articles. It is highly recommended
that an abstract be included for each article. The dates of receipt
of articles and the dates of publication of articles, issues, or volumes
should be visible.

3. Logistics

In case a journal or proceedings volume is being
offered for sale (in any form), the release of the
electronic version to ELibM may be delayed a specified
period so as to favor sales. This delay period will be
at the discretion of the editors or publisher.

The editors of an electronic journal are responsible for
delivery of their journal's articles to ELibM. Appropriate
technical facilities for automatic document delivery will be
proposed by the manager of the ELibM-Server.

While standards may change in the future, currently a complete
PostScript file containing all the font information should be made
available for every article in a journal participating in ELibM.

Provision of additional file formats (TeX, DVI, etc.) will
be at the discretion of the of the editors of the corresponding
journal or proceedings. The contents of all versions should essentially
agree, although there is no requirement that they all share any
particular style.

The proliferation of file formats has not posed a space
problem thus far. However, ELibM reserves the right to limit
bulk in case total file size becomes burdensome.

To relieve editors of awkward physical responsibilities,
ELibM is willing to hold the master posting (including all
versions in all provided formats). This offer will be of
particular interest for proceedings volumes; on the other hand,
many journals are so well equipped that they prefer to retain
their master posting, which ELibM then mirrors to all servers
of its network.

4. Costs

Reader access to the electronic journal and
proceedings volumes of ELibM will be free of charge.
Likewise, to be included in ELibM, these publications
must be provided to ELibM free of charge.

As a service to the mathematical community, the costs and
maintenance of ELibM are covered by the EMS in cooperation with
Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe and Zentralblatt für
Mathematik.

5. Copyright

Distribution through ELibM servers is authorized by the original
copyright holders. It does not imply transfer of any form of copyright
to EMIS or any related agency, nor to any person or agency acquiring
the data through ELibM. For a journal with a printed version, a person
obtaining an article from EMIS has no greater legal right to reproduce
it than if he had borrowed the journal from a library.

6. Permanence

Science has important personal and historical dimensions
requiring that future generations be quite sure what was
published and when. The provisions of the next paragraph
help to assure this.

One of the first published versions of each article or volume
should be designated as original and archival. (This is a must for
journals not also published on paper.) The archival original must be
maintained unchanged forever, while alternative versions in other
formats may be introduced or deleted. The constancy of the
archival version will be continually monitored by ELibM as the
library's basic guarantee of document integrity to the mathematical
community.

The editors and publishers are free to designate the archival
version; failing that, the choice is left to EMIS at the time of
posting in ELibM.

7. Distribution agreement

The above guidelines are an amalgam of information, offers
of assistance, assured freedoms, advice, and obligations. The
obligations are clearly signaled by the word ``must''. EMIS
invites editors and publishers to enjoy the freedoms and to
request assistance at any time. On the other hand EMIS requests
prompt mention of points where the above advice may not be
followed. EMIS insists that unaccepted obligations be
renegotiated in detail before finalization of a ELibM
distribution agreement.

Each ELibM distribution agreement (formal or informal)
may be terminated on short notice, either by the copyright
holder or by EMIS.